Delaware City Council signs off on raises

Delaware City Council approved raises for various city employees during Thursday’s year-end meeting. Raises will be coming to all permanent part-time and intermittent part-time/seasonal employees, as well as permanent part-time firefighters after council passed an ordinance amending section 155.09 of the city’s codified ordinances.

Included in the city’s 2019 budget is a 2 percent increase in wages for all permanent part-time positions. According to city documents, an external seasonal pay-rate comparison was conducted in response to difficulty staffing seasonal laborer positions during the 2018 season.

“This change will increase our ability to recruit qualified individuals for these positions, reduce the time to fill these positions, provide internal and external pay equity as municipal pay rate comparisons have increased, incentivize past employees to return, and condense the number of seasonal pay grades,” a city document states.

After receiving a $1 hourly raise last year, firefighter/EMTs and firefighter/paramedics will receive a small uptick in wages in 2019, increasing to $13.26 and $15.30 per hour, respectively.

The non-union employee pay plan range will also see a 2 percent increase in pay, with a 2.5 percent increase coming to the department head pay plan range.

Both the mayor and city council positions will also see an uptick in pay. Serving as the mayor of Delaware will pay $11,500, with council positions being increased to $10,000 per year. Currently, Mayor Carolyn Kay Riggle receives a salary of $8,760, while council members earn a salary of $8,260.

Raises for the mayor and council positions will not go into effect until Jan. 1, 2020. The last increase in pay for council members came in January of 2016, and according to a Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC) salary survey, the City of Delaware pays its council members less than the average salary paid to those in similar cities.

In a separate ordinance, council signed off on amending the Delaware Municipal Court and Clerk of Court employee benefits and leave policies.